Renault reveals new Grand Scenic

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Renault has revealed details of its new Grand Scenic people carrier, which will go on sale later this year and be available with five or seven seats.

The Grand Scenic is a bigger version (it’s 24cm longer) of the all-new Scenic, which was shown at the Geneva motor show earlier this year. In addition to the extra row of seats, boot space grows to up to 718 litres (an increase of 63 litres over the previous Grand Scenic).

Renault hope that the Grand Scenic and new Scenic people carriers will tempt people away from SUVs

Unusually, Renault is only offering the Grand Scenic with with kind of large wheels usually reserved for high-performance cars - 20in being the smallest - but says that ride comfort remains up there with the best in the market.

Furthermore, customers will be able to customise the wheel designs thanks to a range of rims and inserts that Renault describes as “add ons”, and the wheels themselves are narrower than you’ll find on most people carriers, allowing “lower energy consumption and enhanced aerodynamic efficiency” along with “class-leading rolling resistance”, says Renault.

As with other modern Renaults, the Grand Scenic will be available with a portrait touchscreen

Other neat touches include one-touch folding rear seats, a hybrid assist system for one of the the diesel engines and an 8.7in portrait touchscreen, as also seen in the new Megane.

Safety features include automatic emergency braking with pedestrian detection (fitted to all models), lane keeping assist and fatigue detection warning, which monitors the car’s course when travelling above 37mph and warns the driver if any anomalies are detected.

The Grand Scenic's boot is said to be bigger than ever

The engine range consists of five diesels including the aforementioned hybrid assist version, and two petrols, the latter of which are only available with a six-speed manual gearbox.

Renault has a good reputation in this field; the first Scenic was unveiled 20 years ago, defining the small MPV class much as the original Espace had done for seven seaters in the 1980s.

Rivals for the new Grand Scenic include the Citroen Grand C4 Picasso, Ford Grand C-Max and Volkswagen Touran.